From micro-units to an 8-story art wall, the proposals for one of Shaw’s central parcels all offer something a little different. In this article, UrbanTurf will outline many of the proposals on the boards for Shaw’s Parcel 42.

This is the fourth time DC has solicited developers for the parcel at 7th and R Street NW (map), across from the Shaw Library. However, this time a new process called Our RFP was used, which allowed residents and the local ANC to detail their priorities for the site prior to the land being put out for bid by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). DMPED’s chief concern is making sure the developed property includes plenty of affordable housing — in this case, at least 30 percent, as mandated for District-owned parcels in a new city law.

Below are proposals from five of the six teams. UrbanTurf did not hear back from the team of Donohoe Development and Spectrum Management, but will update the article if we receive their proposal.

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136 Units and an 8-Story Art Wall

PINDAR and Stratford Capital are proposing to partner with MANNA on “nest shaw”, a 136-unit apartment building with 9,000 square feet of retail, a neighborhood plaza, and an eight-story art wall that will pay homage to the old Griffith Stadium. At least 50 percent of the residential units will be affordable. MV+A Architects is the architect of record for the proposal, and PGN Architects is the design architect.

There is an educational aspect to the proposal as well: a program in which students from high schools nearby would meet at the offices of different firms in various fields affiliated with the project to understand what goes into the development process.

128 Apartments, A Farmers Market and Open Green Space

Lincoln Westmoreland Housing and AHC propose RIA7, a development that will include a nine-story, 128-unit apartment building and open green space that will be used for things like a farmers market, arts programming, a bicycle repair shop, and other community initiatives. Fifty percent of the residential units will be available to households earning no more than 60 percent of area median income. The development is designed by Shalom Baranes Associates.

90 Family-Sized Units, Neighborhood-Serving Retail and a Public Park

Ditto Residential, Group360 Real Estate Advisors and Irving Development propose a mixed-use, mixed-income development designed by Dep Designs and R. McGhee and Associates. The seven-story, 90-unit project would have 8,000 square feet of “neighborhood-serving” retail, such as a hardware store, toy store, sandwich shop, or sit-down restaurant. The majority of the apartments would be larger family-friendly units, and 30 percent would be affordable. The last piece of the proposal would be a public park on the site.

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200 Micro-Units, Retail and a Public Park/Art Installation

FORTIS Companies proposes an eight-story mixed-use project with 200 micro-units, 7,500 square feet of ground-level retail and a public park/art installation. Building amenities will include a full demonstration kitchen, a rooftop pool, and green roof outdoor space. Sixty of the units will be for those making 30 to 50 percent of the area median income, and the efficiently-designed units will average 400 square feet and be priced 20 percent below comparable asking rents in Shaw and Logan Circle. The proposal includes funds to sponsor a pocket-park design competition through Howard University’s School of Architecture for the adjacent triangular lot. The proposal was designed by R2L: Architects.

109 Units, Veteran Housing and a New Spike Mendelson Restaurant

The proposal from the team of the Menkiti Group, Dantes Partners and BKV Group consists of two residential components — a market-rate condominium and a multifamily rental building — along with neighborhood-serving retail. There will be a total of 109 units — 38 in the rental building and 71 condo units. Through a partnership with Veterans on the Rise, a DC-based non-profit that works to provide housing opportunities and other services for veterans, the 38 rental units will be permanent affordable housing for veterans. The team plans a public amenity to showcase public art and provide recreational space, as well as a new restaurant from Vinoda Basnayake and Spike Mendelson.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_proposals_for_shaws_parcel_42/10892

6 Comments

mattopp
said at
2:34 pm on Saturday February 20, 2016:

The 90 unit deal is certainly the most striking design.

@Shawington
said at
1:16 am on Sunday February 21, 2016:

The critical element that is not noted here is the amount of car parking. Please update if/when that information is available. Local ANC commissioners have killed or delayed-to-death previous proposals in this area over the lack of on-site car parking which often costs between ~$50k to ~$100k or more per spot to create. See: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/20087/less-parking-needed-for-housing-atop-metro-not-more/.

DC225
said at
4:32 am on Monday February 22, 2016:

Parking is important. People buying $750K condos aren't giving up their BMWs, especially with Metro reliability at an all-time low. I still have seen no evidence to support the idea that the savings from not building parking is passed on to home buyers; instead, it's pocketed by the developers, and the neighborhood finds itself with too many cars chasing too few spots.

@Shawington
said at
9:51 pm on Monday February 22, 2016:

The question is: 'How much parking are they going to build?' The BMW set can always pay for on-site parking (the poor, not so much); the developers (and community) must honestly try to predict the right balance — just enough for those who want them and not too many to overly inflate the cost of the overall construction which will impact the number of low cost units.
Underground parking so close to Metro's underground infrastructure likely inflates the cost per spot, possibly closer to $100k than $50k. Someone should ask what that cost might be; the new construction across the street should provide realistic estimates.
CityVista and CityMarket at O notoriously built too many car parking spots which, to date, remain underused even during peak usage hours and making spots at CityMarket available to Shiloh Church on Sundays. For the cost, they could have planned more low cost units or added other cost saving renewable energy systems to keep costs low in the long term.
Renewable energy systems should also be noted in the update to this article. Programs for students (good luck coordinating with DCPS's common core curriculums. They still can't even get DC students to tour/study local museums and monuments...), public art and parks are purely cosmetic bait to distract from financial challenges that threaten the success of each proposal.

@Shawington
said at
11:42 pm on Monday February 22, 2016:

Aside from failing to note that @keyurbandc's 7th & R St NW Apartments, right atop a Shaw Metro station — across the street from Parcel 42 — are named after the father of our current US Attorney, none of these "Channing E. Phillips Homes" articles indicates how many parking spaces were created for this low-cost apartment development leasing in Spring 2016. (Architect Shalom Baranes doesn't even list this small project on their site.) So I'll guess "no parking" for its 56 families aside from de minimis surface parking.
Up the street, at Progression Place, the excavation seemed pretty extensive (ie: expensive) for those 100% market rate offices/homes.
So, any significant amount of "car" parking at Parcel 42 will likely directly compete with getting much low-cost housing created given the relatively small footprint of that site.
I hope they at least include lots and lots of bicycle racks!
http://keyurban.com/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2015/06/25/affordable-apartments-coming-to-d-c-s-shaw/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2015/06/25/affordable-apartments-coming-to-d-c-s-shaw/
http://patch.com/district-columbia/georgetown/federal-and-local-officials-celebrate-construction-kickoff-channing-e-phillips-homes-shawhoward
Progression Place (underground parking excavation):
http://www.progressionplace.com/photo-gallery/

Nathaniel Martin
said at
4:36 pm on Tuesday February 23, 2016:

The PGN design looks like a cheap suburban motel. The R2L design is not much better, and the last one is an absolute mess. The proposal by Dep Designs and McGhee has a certain elegance to it, but ultimately it is rather generic and seems oblivious to its location. The strongest is the Shalom Baranes proposal, which has depth and interest, but more importantly, seems to respond to the geometry of the site and recognizes the prominence of the location.